it really sucks that they have no record of what happened with her at that other vet's office. that's just irresponsible of them. hang in there. hopefully that lump will start shrinking and this will all just be a bad dream!

Oh no, I'm so sorry! As you know, if it is a MCT, chances are that surgery will be curative, particularly since it's on the ear. And if your vet couldn't see mast cells in the aspirate, chances are it's not even a MCT. You can spend some time getting other opinions and deciding on the best vet--there's no enormous rush to get it off within the next few days.

And perhaps you don't need to leave her alone at the vet, at least not while she's conscious. If you explain about her past, I bet your vet will let you stay with her while she's getting prepped, leave during the surgery, and then be there in the recovery room so you're around when she comes out of anesthesia. (At least, our vet allows this when requested.)

Rob's vet allows this, too, and I'm considering it. I don't know if the other place does, though I suspect they would. Partly I'm not sure how well I'll be able to hold it together and know that me sobbing over her won't help her, but also having just taking time off for a funeral, I'm not sure how much time off I have left, and if it requires surgery losing income doesn't make sense, either. I'm trying to look at all the options to see what's best for everyone emotionally, physically, and financially, and my head just starts spinning.

So based on the estimates from a few clinics and the fact that Rob would be with her the whole time, Lib is having her surgery on December 22 at his clinic. My boss is shuffling a few rules to let me have the day off without losing too many hours, since I ate up my paid-time-off for the funeral. And I'm leaning towards spending the whole time with her til she falls asleep. Friday and Saturday are my usual days off, so I'll have the next two days off to snuggle with her until family holiday festivities begin.

I don't think I am. The lump was growing, and is a size and shape and feel that are worrisome to several vets. If it's just an infection, the antibiotics would shrink it (which they haven't yet, and we're on day 4) and if not, I want to know what it is. The vet gave me signs to look for that would allow me to comfortably not do the surgery (shrinkage of the lump) but that's not occuring. They also gave me signs to look for to consider bumping the surgery up to a sooner date, those haven't happened yet either. I don't want to keep testing the hell out of the lump and have to do the surgery anyway - I'd rather take it off, biopsy it, and find out where to go from there.

Continued thoughts and prayers to you and Lib. Also to Rob, Oscar and the kitties. I'm sure this is stressful for everyone involved. I'm so sorry you have to make such a hard choice. I pray the lump will be benign. I'm praying every single day that the lump shrinks to nothing by 12/22.

Well, I'll be taking the whole day off on the 22nd to be with her while she falls asleep and wakes up. The lump is not shrinking with antibiotics, but it doesn't seem to be growing either. I've applied for assitance from PBRC, so hopefully it won't wipe me out entirely, but we'll see! Thanks for the positive thoughts - keep them coming!

Thank you! We're leaving for the hospital in about an hour, and she'll be getting started at about noon. I'll be staying with her until she's asleep, and then once the surgery is over I'll go and sit with her in the kennel run while she wakes up. She'll have her stuffed octopus (her first toy ever) and one of her dog beds, and I'll be reading aloud (and knitting) as she wakes, so it will be as comfortable for her as possible. We'll see how she feels from there as to how soon we head home, and then we have lots of DVDs and pasta for the next few days so I don't have to leave the house at all until possibly Christmas Eve or maybe Christmas morning. I'm pretty short tempered, have had a headache for three days and feel like I haven't slept since November, but I haven't been over emotional and sobbing or anything, so I think I'm not projecting too much energy onto her and hopefully it's probably far less of an issue for her than it is for me, but I promised her she'd never be scared again when she came to me, and I'm going to do my best to keep that promise.